Labour Hire Market Commentary – October 2016

October 18th, 2016

Favorable market conditions in local manufacturing and export have continued over the past quarter. This was despite the federal election held in July, which seems to have had no negative impact on labour hire demand.

We have experienced particularly strong conditions for hiring in the food and beverage industries, both in Melbourne and Sydney. We achieved high fill and retention rates for process workers, forklift drivers, machine operators and warehouse personnel. This has been in a candidate market where experienced workers have been extremely difficult to secure. It has been particularly frustrating, when after careful screening you have on average around 50-60% of booked-in candidates not attending their interviews. From our perspective, it looks like an awful lot of people apply for roles in order to qualify for unemployment social security benefits and are not serious about securing work.

The electronics and metal sectors have also continued solidly with a sharp increase seen in the back half of the quarter for higher skilled positions such as assemblers, machine operators and other light industrial roles. Clients continue to have strong requirements for permanent tradies such as fitters, boilermakers, electricians and welders as well as service technicians, primarily for manufacturing companies. We are predicting that strong manufacturing conditions will continue in the current quarter.